TRYING TO WAKE UP THE AWAKE: a sonnet

TRYING TO WAKE UP THE AWAKE: a sonnet


Who can wake up a person not asleep?
Who can make a seed grow that is barren?
It’s beyond even them; they would but weep,
The kind and graceful angels of heaven.

Some, though awake, prefer to keep eyes shut.
Such childish pranks simply amuse the wise.
But learning itself seems to be bankrupt
When men of learning prefer to close eyes.

The fact is that even fools can be taught,
But not those who loudly do teach others.
One carrying a lamp would be distraught
When none for the lamp or the light bothers.

It’s no use waking one who is awake.
Why give knowledge to one who thinks it’s fake?


M C Gupta
12 March 2009